This One-Man Distillery Is Taking the Spirits World by Storm

Mark Nesheim’s one-man Woodinville distillery, J.P. Trodden, is raking in the awards: it was the only Washington bourbon to win a Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirit’s Competition (billed as the largest, most influential spirits competition in the United States) and was selected for a national tasting tour of Double Gold Winners this fall.

The distillery opened in 2009 as an homage to Nesheim's grandfather, who was a mail carrier in the Okanogan region of Washington during Prohibition. Trodden smuggled whiskey from Canada (where it was legal), stashed them in his mailbags, and distributed them to friends on the dry side of the border.

Nesheim mills grains from a small family farm in Quincy and ages his whiskey in new Kentucky-made oak barrels for a minimum of three years. He produces only 800 bottles per month, which you can try at the tasting room, open Saturdays from 12 to 5 p.m. except major holidays.